I'm a coffee snob and I'm proud of it. I own two separate coffee makers. One of them cost nearly $900 and it makes awesome espresso drinks. When I got over the initial sticker shock and did the math I discovered it easily paid for itself in less than a year. I've owned it for over six so I'm way ahead on the coffee shop curve. The other is only for brewed coffee...the everyday work horse. I only buy whole bean coffee and use a burr grinder to make it just right for the perfect brew. Snobbery through and through!As I've travelled around the world I've gotten to taste a lot of great coffee. It is the primary export in a lot of the countries the organization I work for has offices in. The result is I've had the opportunity to drink some of the world's best coffee on its home turf. I have a deal with a couple of co-workers and we bring coffee back to each other from our various trips. If you've never heard coffee mentioned in conjunction with Ethiopia, Colombia, Indonesia, Guatemala, Kenya, El Salvador, or Tanzania then you must be a Folger's drinker. I once told my pastor that, for coffee connoisseurs, drinking Folger's is like dropping the f-bomb during a Sunday morning sermon. He's a cool guy so I didn't get excommunicated or anything.
Ethiopian coffee is outstanding. After all, Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee...at least that's what my Ethiopian friends claim. Colombia grows some incredible beans, too. That Juan Valdez guy is a national icon! They've built a whole new brand around ol' Juan that actually has some decent coffee associated with it...not like the junk that we in the US remember from those commercials in the 70's. Indonesia has their delicious Sumatra, Tanzania has wonderful Peaberry, Guatemala is rightfully proud of their Antigua, and the Santa Leticia beans from El Salvador are very flavorful. But, in my opinion, the best coffee I've tasted comes from Kenya! There are two coffee's that I absolutely love coming out of my favorite African destination...Kenya AA roasted by the Nairobi Java House and, wait for it...wait for it...
Dorman's AA Blue Mountain!
"Hold on a minute...KENYAN Blue Mountain? Blue Mountain is that expensive coffee from Jamaica. You've got it wrong!"
Nope...I've got it exactly right! A number of years ago someone figured out that an area of Kenya has a very similar climate, elevation and soil to Jamaica. They imported a coffee plant and found their suspicions were correct. The Kenyan Blue Mountain coffee is every bit as delicious as the Jamaican version (the Jamaicans are not real happy about this and have been trying to stop the Kenyan's from calling it Blue Mountain for years). But here's the best part. You might be aware that the Jamican Blue Mountain costs anywhere from $25 a pound and up if you can find it? I can get the Kenyan Blue Mountain for a little less than $10 a pound. Score!
"Hold on a minute...KENYAN Blue Mountain? Blue Mountain is that expensive coffee from Jamaica. You've got it wrong!"
Nope...I've got it exactly right! A number of years ago someone figured out that an area of Kenya has a very similar climate, elevation and soil to Jamaica. They imported a coffee plant and found their suspicions were correct. The Kenyan Blue Mountain coffee is every bit as delicious as the Jamaican version (the Jamaicans are not real happy about this and have been trying to stop the Kenyan's from calling it Blue Mountain for years). But here's the best part. You might be aware that the Jamican Blue Mountain costs anywhere from $25 a pound and up if you can find it? I can get the Kenyan Blue Mountain for a little less than $10 a pound. Score!
The unfortunate part of this story is I can't get year 'round access to the Kenyan coffee that I love so much. I don't get to Kenya as often as I'd like and they don't have an online store that I can order from - although the shipping would probably negate the great prices anyway. The good news is I've found an awesome place in Colorado Springs that roasts some pretty darn good bean. My friend Eric Umenhofer is an awesome local roaster and owns a shop called the Colorado Coffee Merchants. He has two labels he markets under, Umpire Estate and Idle Truck. I really like the Umpire Estate Kauai blend and I love his espresso beans, too. Quite honestly, I haven't had anything from his shop that I didn't really like. It's 237% better than the bitter, burned, over-caffeinated crap that Starbuck's tries to pass off as coffee. If you really enjoy good coffee you owe it to yourself to give Colorado Coffee Merchants a try...did I mention they're having a Holiday Open House on December 22 between 5:30 and 8:00? If you don't live around Colorado Springs you can order online and they'll ship it to you, too.
Ok..enough with the commercial but it was an honest testimonial. Coffee is a gift from God. That's probably most evident in that it's the drug of choice for most Christians – but that's a whole different topic for another day. For now, I'm going to go pour another cup and relax.
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